Light the Candle
by Pandora449
Summary: Leonardo and his brothers celebrate their 30th birthdays. 30th Anniversary fic! Character death. Rated T just to be sure. One-shot story. Characters based on the 2012 constructions.


**Light the Candle**

**Summary: **Leonardo and his brothers celebrate their 30th birthdays. 30th Anniversary fic! Character death. Rated T just to be sure. One-shot story. Characters based on the 2012 constructions.

**Disclaimer**: Nope, I do not own the turtles or the concepts of the show.

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><p>Leonardo sat at the table in the Lair, staring at the cake he and his brothers had made as the candle burnt through the wax, dripping white blobs of plastic onto the icing. The cake itself sat lopsided on the white plate and was covered in a layer of green frosting.<p>

Leo smiled at the memory of Mikey presenting a similar cake for their fifteenth mutation day, claiming that they didn't want to know what the frosting was made out of.

Leo turned to his youngest brother on his left as Mikey sat fidgeting with his hands in excitement. His short orange bandanna was tied to his eyes and his freckles were still prominent on his cheeks. In fifteen years, he hadn't changed at all.

Don came up behind them and placed a hand on Leo's shell, before grabbing a chair to sit down to Leo's right. The genius still had a gentle smile which showed his missing front tooth and his eyes, like always, had a glint of brilliance in them, as Leo knew that a million ideas and thoughts were constantly running through his brother's head.

Leo warmly returned the smile.

Raphael, the hot-head, the idiot and Leo's best friend twirled his Sai, grinning, before slicing them into the cake, candle still lit. Mischievously, he flicked a bit at Mikey who instinctively licked the frosting off his arm without a second thought.

Leo let it slide. Usually, and on any other day he would have lectured Mikey about being clean – even though they lived in a sewer - but today was special.

He and his brothers were thirty today.

Leo made his wish and blew out the candle before it melted away. He then continued to cut the cake from where Raph had started with his Sai and gave a serve to each of his brothers, before taking a slice himself.

His brothers always came first.

The cake was delicious and he ate silently, simply appreciating the presence of his brothers as he watched them goof around.

Once finished, Leo excused himself from the table and took his empty plate to the sink to rinse off the crumbs.

He turned back to the Lair. It was dark and cold, very much unlike what they used to be. What _his_ family used to be.

The pinball machine sat dead, covered in a carpet of dust. Mike's skateboard was propped up against it, cobwebs dangling from its sides and draping to the floor. It hadn't been ridden through the sewer tunnels or up on the rooftops in years.

Don's lab was quiet, unused by his purple banded brother. No experiments bubbled, no machines beeped and incomplete inventions were sprawled across the desk pleading to be finished, but knowing that the day would never come. There was only one invention Leo had ever looked at.

In the Dojo, Raph's punching dummy lay on the ground as the chain had snapped a long time ago and Leo hadn't mended it, unable to go near the item as it still held his brother's scent.

Master Splinter's room was empty, emitting not a sliver of warm light or the intense but also soothing smell of burning incense.

On the kitchen table, his brother's three slices of cake still sat, untouched.

The memories of his brothers sunk back into Leo's mind and he returned to reality, although every day he imagined them sitting at the table, training in the Dojo, playing video games, running on the rooftops and laughing at 'Space Heroes' or his attempts to lead.

Tears streamed down Leonardo's face, as he knew, that his birthday wish was futile. It would never come true, as for the last fifteen years he had wished to see his family alive once more and every year he was thwarted.

There was no such thing as a birthday wish, although every year Leo still tried.

Leo closed his eyes, desperately trying to remember the face of his Father and the sound of his brother's voices. Fifteen years had taken their toll and he yearned to be with them, to hear them, to talk to them…to just see them alive, without their eyes wide in death and red seeping from their shells.

That would be the greatest gift.

Besides, it was his birthday after all.

But it was his alone.

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><p><strong>So that was my attempt at a fic to celebrate the 30<strong>**th**** Anniversary of the turtles. I do hope that you enjoyed the read and if so, please leave a review because I love hearing from you :)****. Thanks! **


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